Saucy and flavorful, Oyster Sauce Chicken is made from chicken thighs, oyster sauce, soy sauce, ginger, and green onions. It's simple to make and great with a bowl of rice (to soak up all that sauce!) An easy and satisfying dinner option.
Here's a secret that is not-so-secret: if you add oyster sauce to (almost) anything, it will taste good!
Seriously. We love oyster sauce and it's a popular ingredient in Hawaii, both in home and restaurant kitchens! There are many different brands of oyster sauce and even vegetarian and vegan versions (which I saw at Whole Foods Hawaii).
But the classic oyster sauce, the only one in our kitchen, is the Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce. It's a tried and true favorite and also the most popular one around. You can buy it at all Asian markets. In Hawaii, oyster sauce also sold at all the "regular" supermarkets and even the drug store.
Oyster sauce and chicken is a common pairing and a delicious one. For this recipe, we sear the chicken, saute aromatics, and braise it in a liquid of chicken broth, soy sauce, and plenty of oyster sauce. That's it!
The liquid cooks down to this saucy goodness flavored with ginger, garlic, and green onions. We serve it with rice. Super ono ^_^
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Ingredients
Here's what you'll need:
- Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs - you can also use drumsticks or a whole chicken that's chopped up.
- Ginger
- Green onions
- Garlic
- Shaoxing wine
- Soy sauce
- Oyster sauce
- Chicken broth
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Let's get cooking:
Sear the chicken.
In a large pot over high heat, sear the chicken thighs skin-side down for 4-5 minutes, until the skin is crisp and golden.
You may need to do this in two batches depending how big the pot is. Remove the chicken and put it on a plate.
Saute aromatics.
Put the ginger, white parts of the green onions (save the green parts for later), and garlic in the pot. Saute over medium-high heat until golden.
Add the liquids.
Add the Shaoxing wine and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
Then pour in the chicken broth, soy sauce, and oyster sauce.
Add chicken back.
Add the chicken thighs back in the pot, making sure there is just enough liquid to cover the chicken (you can add more broth or water if there's not enough liquid to cover the chicken).
Boil and then simmer.
Bring everything back to a boil. Then place a lid on the pot and turn the heat down to low heat. Let simmer for 15 minutes.
Cook down and add green onions.
Remove the lid, turn the heat back to medium-high and let the liquid cook down until it becomes a thicker sauce.
Stir in the green parts of the green onions. Cook for another 30 seconds.
Finish and serve.
Then use tongs to remove the chicken onto a serving place. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Serve with rice. Eat and enjoy ^_^
Substitutions and Variations
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Make it spicy - there are two ways to bring heat to this dish. First is to drizzle chili oil over the chicken right before serving. Second option is adding white pepper to the braising liquid (add it during the same step where you add the chicken broth). I like the white pepper option more because the flavor "matches" this dish better.
- Replace the chicken broth - use mushroom broth, so good.
- Vegetarian - you can replace the chicken with tofu. Make sure to use deep fried tofu. We can buy deep fried tofu in Hawaii at many markets (we love the Aloha Tofu brand), but you can't find it at the stores, you can deep fry the tofu at home (it's an extra step but worth it).
Whether you do substitutions or make the recipe as written, we hope you enjoy it very much ^_^
Equipment
All you need is one big, heavy bottomed pot.
Storage
Oyster Chicken leftovers keep 2-3 days in the refrigerator. Store the dish in a sealed container. Reheat it in the microwave, in 30 second increments.
Top tip
The first step of this recipe is to sear the chicken. When we say sear, we really mean sear. Cook it skin-side down until that skin gets super golden and crispy.
It's tempting to try shortcut this part or skip it entirely (tempting because it's definitely messy and I always get oil splatters all over the stove). But doing a nice sear will make a big difference in both appearance and flavor at the end.
FAQ
You definitely need to eat this with rice! It's a saucy, flavorful dish and rice is the perfect starch to pair it with. I also like to eat this with a simple vegetable or tofu side dish like Cold Tofu, Bean Sprouts Stir Fry, or Avocado Tofu.
The short answer is yes. This will still be a wonderful dish even without ginger. However, we love ginger so we would never skip in. We often even add more ginger. But if you add too much ginger you're heading into Ginger Chicken territory, which is another tasty recipe.
If you're into oyster chicken (who wouldn't be ;), we have several other recipes you might like including Shoyu Chicken which is a super Hawaii classic and a dish we make all the time.
Chicken Hekka is similar to Japanese sukiyaki, but local-style. There's also Chicken Long Rice which is another local classic, a must try!
Oyster Sauce Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 pieces bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 1 2-inch knob ginger, julienned
- 6 stalks green onions, chopped, whites and greens divided
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup Shaoxing wine
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 cups chicken broth
Instructions
- In a large pot over high heat, sear the chicken thighs skin-side down for 4-5 minutes, until the skin is crisp and golden. You may need to do this in two batches depending how big the pot is. Remove the chicken and put it on a plate.
- Put the ginger, white parts of the green onions, and garlic in the pot and saute over medium-high heat until golden.
- Add the Shaoxing wine and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Then pour in the chicken broth, soy sauce, and oyster sauce
- Add the chicken thighs back in the pot, making sure there is just enough liquid to cover the chicken (add more broth or water if it doesn't cover the chicken).
- Bring everything back to a boil. Then place a lid on the pot and turn the heat down to low. Let simmer for 15 minutes.
- Then remove the lid, turn the heat back to medium-high and let the liquid cook down until it becomes a thicker sauce. Stir in the green parts of the green onions. Cook for another 30 seconds.
- Then use tongs to remove the chicken onto a serving place. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Serve with rice. Eat and enjoy ^_^
Nutrition
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Mahalo for Reading!